The Foreign Service Journal, November 2012

20 NOVEMBER 2012 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL it was still significant. The percentage of political appointees from the Eisen- hower administration through President Gerald Ford’s had been 34 percent. But from Jimmy Carter’s presidency through George W. Bush’s, it averaged 29 percent (staying just above 30 percent under Republican presidents and under 27 percent when Democrats occupied the White House). While he was a presidential candi- date, Senator Barack Obama frequently talked about the need to change the way Washington does business. He even explicitly criticized the practice of giving ambassadorships to big campaign con- tributors. As he said when responding to a question on the subject: “My general ever since, regardless of the party in power. “He Speaks English” Passed with the support of the Carter administration, the Foreign Service Act of 1980 states that those nominated to be a chief of mission should demon- strate competence to do the job—i.e., they should be familiar with the lan- guage, culture and history of the country to which they are named. The law also stipulates that such positions should normally be given to career members of the Foreign Service, and contributions to political campaigns should not be a factor in an appointment. Though the law’s effect was modest, Only about 10 percent of the posts with a hardship allowance or danger pay have a political appointee as ambassador.